Ash borers trackedfrom Michigan, Ohio

Monday

Jul 9, 2007 at 12:01 AM

By Michael Pound, Calkins Media

When Sharon Lucik drives to her office near Flint, Mich., she sees the damage firsthand.

Where there had been stands of ash trees along the highway few years ago, there are only dead trunks and branches. And that's typical for Michigan's Lower Peninsula, where an emerald ash borer infestation was discovered five years ago.

"It's not a barren landscape, because they only target ash trees," said Lucik, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture who helps coordinate a public awareness campaign about the infestation in Michigan. "It's noticeable, though - there aren't many healthy ash trees left."

Officials in Michigan discovered the infestation by the Asian beetle near Detroit, although they estimate the bug had a 10-year head start before it was discovered there. The ravenous larvae have killed millions of ash trees there, despite strict quarantines that restrict movement of ash trees, ash products and all hardwood firewood.

A similar quarantine is in place for Beaver, Allegheny, Lawrence and Butler counties after emerald ash borers were discovered in Cranberry Township almost two weeks ago. Officials from the USDA and the state Department of Agriculture are still surveying the area around Cranberry to determine how bad the infestation is - and what the next course of action will be.

"It's a little frustrating, because we're not yet at the stage where we determine a course of action," said Greg Hoover, an entomologist with the Penn State Cooperative Extension and a member of the state's emerald ash borer task force. "But we have to know how bad the problem is before we know what we can do about it."

REACTION TOO SLOW

In Michigan, where officials suspect the emerald ash borer was transported from Asia in wooden packing crates shipped to a Detroit port, the bug really had a chance to take hold before it was noticed. That meant efforts to slow the infestation there were well behind, said Jim Bowes, a spokesman for the Michigan agriculture department.

"By the time we really understood what we were up against, it was too late in a lot of areas," Bowes said. "An infested tree dies in between three and five years, so trees were already dying before we knew what was going on."

Since then, officials there have pursued an aggressive quarantine on infested areas, and have spent a great deal of time educating the public about the bug and its dangers. Lucik said one battle that had to be waged was with the outdoors culture - people from the southern part of the state packing up their stuff - including firewood - and heading north for an extended stay at their hunting camp.

"This is a huge part of the culture here, and there's no doubt it contributed to the spread," she said. "On their own, the adult emerald ash borers can fly about a half-mile from where they were hatched. But if the larvae are catching a ride in a piece of firewood, they can go hundreds of miles.

"Without help from people, the infestation really can't spread far on its own," she added. "We've spent a lot of time trying to educate people about that."

ERADICATION METHODS

Because the problem is so widespread there, officials in Michigan are at the forefront of trying to find new ways of eradicating the emerald ash borer as well - a difficult task, given that the beetles have no known natural enemies in North America. Lucik said USDA officials are considering the introduction of a parasitic wasp that has been know to seek out emerald ash borer larvae, but that would be done with caution, as the introduction of a new species can have negative effects on a foreign ecosystem.

And Bowes said some homeowners have found that tree and shrub pesticides containing imidicloprid have worked in controlling the insects. There is a drawback, though - Bowes said the chemical is expensive and must be applied annually to be effective.

"That's a value judgment a homeowner must make," he said. "If that tree is important to you, you may think it's worth it to continue the treatments."

MEASURE OF SUCCESS

The first emerald ash borers discovered in Ohio were found in the Toledo area in 2003, about a year after the bug was discovered in Michigan. Melissa Brewer, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, said officials there think they had a better start on the problem than did Michigan - but the bug has still spread across much of the northwestern corner of Ohio and into its urban centers as well.

"We now have 31 counties under quarantine, and we've added three - covering Dayton, Youngstown and the Cincinnati areas - in the last two weeks," Brewer said. "Judging the effectiveness of the quarantines is a little difficult to quantify, but then you think about how quickly this would have spread if we had done nothing," she said. "If you look at Michigan's Lower Peninsula, they pretty much have no ash trees left. We at least had a little jump on the problem."

Brewer said that after the three years since the bug was first spotted in Ohio, it has spread to fewer than half of the state's 88 counties - a better rate than in Michigan.

"We're happy with that," she said. "And we have to think that it's been because we've been pretty aggressive with the quarantines and our educational efforts."

One measure of success there: A toll-free hotline set up by her department receives between 200 and 300 calls a month from residents reporting possible sightings of the bugs, Brewer said.

"That shows that the public is aware of the problem," she said. "That's a big step in helping to control it."

PLAN OF ATTACK

What does this mean for Pennsylvania, where the infestation was discovered just within the last two weeks? Hoover said the lessons learned in Michigan and Ohio have been helpful here, where officials put together an action plan for the anticipated invasion a year ago.

"We have that plan in place, and we're going through its first steps right now," he said. "What we do next will be determined by what the ongoing survey finds."

The first step was the quarantine, which was put in place just three days after the bugs were discovered in Cranberry. Hoover wouldn't say what would be next, but he guessed at a couple of immediate possibilities - an extension of the quarantine and establishment of a facility for disposal of ash products from quarantined areas.

Hoover said an extension would come if it is determined that an area outside the current quarantine has been infested.

"We've been doing surveys throughout the state, and those will probably pick up in the near future," he said. "It's certainly worth checking the area around the current quarantine, but you have to look at areas that might be logical places where they might have ended up. Just last week, there were emerald ash borers discovered about three miles from the Pennsylvania border, in Mahoning County."

Think about the scenario in Michigan, with people taking firewood from home to their hunting camps. Hoover sees plenty of similarities between there and here.

"We've started thinking about this differently," he said. "Where are people who may be hauling firewood stopping? Where are they going? We've started looking at rest areas along I-80 for signs of infestation there."

The other likely step is to establish a marshaling area, where any infested ash trees or parts can be destroyed, Hoover said. Establishing and running such an operation - with special permits issued to truckers who will haul the wood in, and a chipping operation that meets the requirements to ensure the bugs are destroyed - costs money, and the state task force would probably have to get help from Harrisburg to get that started.

"We know that will be a necessity coming up here soon," Hoover said.

Other options include cutting down ash trees in an infected area, leaving a few behind to help monitor the spread of the bugs, or the application of pesticides. And, Hoover said, continuing the public education component that has already begun.

"That's an important part of this - getting people to be aware of the problem and what they can do about it," he said. "The message is actually pretty simple - emerald ash borers kill ash trees, but you can help slow the spread of the infestation. If we get people to understand that, I think we can make some real progress."

Michael Pound can be reached online at mpound@timesonline.com.

BEATING THE BUGS

State agriculture officials want your help in determining the boundaries of the recently discovered emerald ash borer infestation. If you spot one of the adult beetles - they're metallic green and grow to about a half-inch in length - on your property, catch it and soak it in a rubbing alcohol solution to kill it, an important step because live beetles can spread the infestation. Then take the bug to the nearest Penn State Cooperative Extension office, where it will be turned over to officials who can make an identification. The extension offices in our area:

l Beaver County: 2020 Beaver Ave., Suite 200, Monaca. (724) 774-3003

l Allegheny County: 400 N. Lexington St., Pittsburgh. (412) 473-2540

l Lawrence County: 430 Court St., New Castle. (724) 654-8370

l Butler County: 101 Motor Pool Way, Butler Township. (724) 287-4761

INVADERS

An invasive species is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as "a nonnative (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration, whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health." The emerald ash borer definitely fits the bill, but it is by no means the only invasive species causing problems in Pennsylvania. Here are a few more:

l Gypsy moth: Both the Asian and European varieties build cocoon-like tents in deciduous trees, killing off leaves in the process. Infested trees usually recover.

l Soybean aphid: A tiny insect that chews up growing soybeans, cutting back on bean yields.

l Hemlock woolly adelgid: Another tiny insect thought to have originated in Asia; it kills varieties of hemlock trees found in the eastern United States.